Let Me Win Your Heart
by tulips car
Summary: Muriel Casilee is beautiful and popular, and Sirius Black wants on. He's worked through everyone else in the school and is out of options: it's seventh year, and all he wants is her. Will his charm win out, or is Muriel just too damn chill? SBOC, JL
1. The Dream

Disclaimer: Fuck you!

_I am running through the woods beneath a full moon. Everywhere silvery light casts eerie shadows on the dark trees, making them look like ghosts. I turn a corner and come face to face with something terrible, but before I can scream for help or even see what it is, bright white light flashes everywhere and I see—_

I sat up sharply, my long, wavy chestnut hair hanging damply around my heart-shaped face. I ran my slender hands over my apple cheeks, elegantly arched eyebrows (I never waxed or even plucked; I was just born with perfect eyebrows), crystal blue eyes, and dainty lips. Yes, I am beautiful, but in an unassuming and exceedingly natural way. This was what turns the boys on so much; every other bimbo at Hogwarts School of Witchcraft and Wizardry smears her face in makeup in a desperate attempt to achieve what I am already blessed with.

I also have a perfect body. I play Seeker on the Gryffindor on the Gryffindor Quidditch team and so am always in excellent shape. I am also slender, though I had a surprisingly ample bosom. I looked good in everything, even our stingy school robes, though on weekends, when the dress code is relaxed, I wear modest, chic clothing that leaves the boys all wanting more.

I've never been kissed. This is because I am far too good for all of the boys at Hogwarts. Plenty of them have asked me out, because I am always nice to everybody, and so lots of guys are in love with me. But at the same time, a lot of them are assholes to each other and I know that they just don't deserve me. The nicest one who ever asked me, the one whose offer I almost considered, was named Charles, and he was a geeky loser. But he had a good soul, and he was always sweet. So I knew he almost deserved me… except he was a loser for a reason; he was socially inept. And rather hideous.

I am constantly being teased by the Marauders. This is because they have all asked me out and been turned down. Thus they decided to make my life a living hell until I submitted to one of them. Bad idea. I don't give in easy. Only kind words and true reformation of heart will do the trick.

I am also smart. I get top marks and beat everybody, even Lily Evans, who is actually kind of an idiot. She's nice, but she doesn't understand how in love with her James Potter is. I can see it, though. I see everything with my bright blue eyes.

I guess I should describe the Marauders. James is tall and has dark, unruly hair and glasses. Remus is a werewolf; I know because I'm observant and it's pretty damn obvious. He's got light brown hair and is shorter than James, but still pretty cute, except he's always kind of drawn and sickly looking due to his lycanthropy. Peter is short and kind of sweet, I guess. He's also a suck up. He asked me out second year and I was tempted to say yes, he looked so earnest and sincere. But then rationality won over, as always.

Now we get to my least-favorite Marauder, and the bane of my existence. Sirius Black. Tall, dark, handsome, gray eyes, shaggy hair… DAMN is he fine. Alas, he is also obsessed with me. He's been lusting after me for ages, and it's all because I'm the only girl who's ever turned him down. It's kind of like James and Lily, only some people don't like Lily because she's a bitch to everyone unless she thinks it'll make her more popular, but everyone likes me because I couldn't care less what they think.

One day I was sitting at breakfast. I usually eat with Lily and the other Gryffindor girls, but at the same time I'm constantly being waved to and called over by my tons of other friends. I was eating toast with heaps of strawberry jam and Lily was bitching about her weight and saying she should probably just have dry toast.

"I honestly think I'm getting fat, Muriel!" she complained.

Oh yes, I forgot to introduce myself! My name is Muriel Casilee. Muriel Casilee, most sought-after girl at Hogwarts School of Witchcraft and Wizardry. Muriel Casilee, Seeker of the Gryffindor Quidditch Team and token Girl. Muriel Casilee, top student, most popular, most pretty, and in general most well-liked.

Like I care; half the reason everyone likes me, apart from my being gorgeous and smart and nice, is the fact that I don't give a crap what they think. When I'm nice it's out of the goodness of my heart, not because I'm a social climber like Lily.

Review, please:D


	2. Partners

Disclaimer: Fuck you!

I was sitting in class being a good student, as always. I sit attentively and am always respectful of my teachers, even though I already know everything they could ever teach me because I've read every book in the Hogwarts library, including most of the ones in the restricted section. I am able to enter the restricted section because I have an invisibility cloak and am an Animagus.

I became an Animagus in my fourth year. My mother died when I was nine and my father is abusive, so that summer Professor Dumbledore had given me permission to stay at school. I decided I wanted to become an Animagus after reading about them in a book in the library. Then I spent all summer working out how to do it and finally, one week before term was to start up again, I managed it. I can turn into swift white mare, a powerful white tiger, a large white dragon, and a small white mouse. That's right, I can turn into four different animals.

Professor McGonagall was teaching us how to transfigure our desks into pigs. I already knew how, and of course, as soon as I did it, she said, "Excellent work, Casilee, as always! Twenty points to Gryffindor!"

Sirius Black was looking at me sidelong. "Damn," he observed. Then he winked at me.

I smiled politely, shook back my mane of chestnut waves, and turned away. I would never allow Sirius Black's charm to work on me.

Behind me, Crystal Bouvier, an obnoxious bitch who's totally fake and always wears a layer of thick, repugnant makeup, sighed. I was pretty sure Sirius had gotten with her in the past, but apparently one hookup hadn't been enough for that girl. Sirius, however, ignored her; I knew that he was still staring at me.

During Arithmancy, Professor Plutarch announced that we were going to be placed in pairs to work on a project.

I sighed. I had a hunch where this was going.

"Abbot and Atkins!" he shouted.

I groaned. Alphabetical order. Crap.

Sure enough, "Black and Casilee!" was Professor Plutarch's next pairing.

Sirius leered at me, and I smiled back politely, even though I was distraught.

I, partners with Sirius Black? This was exactly what I needed just now: an excuse to spend even _more_ time with him. It was bad enough that we were in all of the same classes, bad enough that I had spent half of my childhood with him.

Hmm?

Oh yes, I forgot to mention that!

When I was younger, my mother used to drag me to tea at the Black household. I had a feeling my mother never really liked the Blacks, but attended Mrs. Black's afternoon tea parties out of obligation to my father, the bastard.

I can't even remember the first time I saw Sirius; when we were babies we napped together, when we were toddlers we sat on the floor and fought over each other's toys. Then, when I was nine, my mother died. I never found out why, though I suspect my father had a lot to do with it.

Or maybe she was just ill. I don't know, and I've chosen not to dwell on it.

At my mother's funeral, I stood in a black dress with a large bow, my hair hanging in large curls – my grandmother's doing – over my shoulders. I had a black ribbon in my hair. I was crying silently as my mother's casket was lowered into the cold, frozen earth. My father stood next to me, utterly ignoring me. He did not cry; if anything, he looked vindictive.

The bastard.

Soon I couldn't take it anymore and turned on my heel, running away across the cold moor. Nobody came after me; I assume they figured I was mad with grief. And maybe I was.

Later, at the funeral feast in our great, dank hall, I slipped away into a side corridor. I had just sunk down against the wall when a boy entered behind me.

Sirius.

I looked up at him, tears in my eyes.

"I was wondering where you went," he said sincerely, coming over to sit beside me against the wall.

I sniffed.

We sat in pleasant silence for a few moments. I felt calmer, having him there. Then he hesitated a moment, and put his arm around my shoulders. At this, I burst into tears. I cried myself out on the lapels of his black robe.

"It's okay, Muriel," he chirped in his sweet, nine-year-old boy voice. "I'll always be your friend!"

I smiled wanly. "I know, Sirius!"

We stood up then.

"I don't want to go back to the feast," I confessed. "A feast for a funeral… it's terrible."

He nodded knowingly. "Let's climb up on the battlements!" he suggested.

This had been an activity we had done long ago, when we were perhaps five, at a tea party my mother had hosted. Then our mothers had caught us and made us swear never to climb up on the battlements again.

"You could slip and fall to your death, Muriel!" I remember my mother had said.

It felt almost insensitive to betray my mother's wishes at this point, but then I felt a new sense of confidence take hold.

For I could manage. I missed my mother dearly, but I knew that she would have wanted me to be happy. She had told me two days before her mysterious death, "All I want is for you to be happy, Muriel! Remember that!"

Perhaps she knew she was soon to die. I had no way of knowing, and still don't.

Sirius and I skipped down the hallway and up several staircases until we burst out onto the roof of my family's manor. Beyond the garden was the empty moor. My mother had once maintained a lush garden of flowers and trees, but now it was winter, and she was gone, and the surrounding yard was dull and frozen.

Sirius and I clambered onto the battlements. It was a bit slippery, and suddenly he grabbed my hand as one of his feet gave way. I laughed, the first time I had laughed since my mother's death, and he grinned back as he pulled himself up onto a higher peak.

We sat atop the battlements for a long time, huddled against the biting cold, and I was reassured by the knowledge that I would always have Sirius to comfort me.

Psh, as if!

When we started Hogwarts, he was nice to me for about two weeks, and then promptly started to ignore me. He had his own friends and his own troubles. I knew his family was bothering him and I wished I could have been there to help him, as he had once helped me. By the end of our first year, however, I had stopped trying. We drifted farther and farther apart.

Then, in about fourth year, the year I suddenly grew and matured and became, in the opinion of the male population of Hogwarts, "drop-dead gorgeous," he suddenly decided that he liked me again – or perhaps he had all along, but had been too shy to show it. But by this point, I had seen the manifestation of his ego and blatant womanizing. No way was I getting involved in that. He was no longer the sweet nine-year-old who had comforted me at my mother's funeral, and I knew it.

He worked his way through other girls in our year and in years below and above. Indeed, he worked his way through most of the girls in the school within a give-or-take two-year age range. But always, always, he came back to me when he had just broken up with a new girl, and tried to talk to me.

"Muriel!" he began. "Let's date!"

"No, thanks," I said.

When that didn't work, he tried a more subtle approach.

"Muriel, we used to be the best of friends! What happened?"

"_You_ did," I replied the first time, and turned away.

Then he grew just plain desperate.

"Muriel, I'm in _love_ with you!" Alas, he always laughed after saying this, so I was never sure how sincere he actually was.

I smiled sadly. "Oh, if only, Sirius. If only."

He never understood why I said that. I wasn't sure either, though I think it might have been a gentler version of saying the blunt truth:

"Sirius, you don't know _how_ to love!"

That accusation would have hurt him too deeply, however, and so I always refrained.

And now Sirius Black and I are partners for this stupid project. I can't say I'm looking forward to the constant, obligatory attention.

Groan.

Reviews:

**lavizsla** – thank you for reviewing.

**Tobias Potter** – thank you; I hope so, too!

**Nocturnal007** – Thanks for reviewing. I'm glad it caught your interest.

Review, please :)


End file.
